Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Indianness'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 23, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 214-232).

This paper proposes the notion that early Native American autobiographical writings from such authors as William Apess provide rich sources for understanding syncretic authors and their engagement with dominant Anglo-Christian culture. Authors like William Apess construct an understanding of what constitutes Indianness in similar and different ways to the master narratives produced for Native peoples. By studying this nonfiction, critics can gain a broader understanding of contemporary Indian fiction like that of Sherman Alexie. The similarities and differences between the strategies of these two authors reveal entrenched stereotypes lasting centuries as well as instances of bold re-signification, a re-definition of Indianness. In analyzing these instances of re-signification, this paper focuses on the performance of re-membering, the controversy of assimilation/authenticity, accessing audience, the discourse of Indians as orphans, and journeys to the metropolis.

This thesis explores the meaning and negotiation of the category ‘Indianness’ for a group of Indian Trinidadian young women through a dougla poetics framework. It looks at the intersecting categories of race and gender as lived and configured through discursive processes and through an engagement with a raced gender performativity (Butler, 1990, 1993; Tate, 2004). Using data drawn from interviews, the focus will be on the young women’s racialised, gendered identities and identifications. Through each of the chapters, I unpick the poetics of dougla to show how hybridity, creolisation and mixing are part of Indianness but also removed from these concepts. The dougla poetics of Indianness shows how while on one hand race and racialisation are erased under the deployment of hybridity and creolisation as meta narratives and fluidity is invoked under the national slogan ‘all we is ‘one’ where mixing is seen as quintessentially Trinidadian, race also continues to operate as a distinctive marker of difference across domains such as trans-religious practices, desires and sexuality, beauty culture, carnival activity and music consumption. All of these areas which are explored in the chapters carry a racialised component. While I am not talking about the dougla (mixed Indian-African) body as such, the main discussion throughout the thesis speaks to how the poetics of dougla works at the level of culture and nation and interrogates the limits of creolisation and hybridity in the Indian Trinidadian context. Through a black feminist ethnography, I draw on individual interviews and group conversations, to explore how the young women construct their identities and identifications as linked to socially constructed norms and practices. Their talk revealed fluidity in varying ways with respect to their raced gendered subject positions but they also spoke about their fixity along the lines of racial and gendered hierarchies. I argue that in Butler’s performativity theorising, discussions of race have been largely absent and I turn to dougla poetics (Puri, 2004), a specifically Caribbean take on mixing, as a more nuanced and significant way of opening up thinking about identity and raced gender in Trinidad. Through this combination of dougla poetics and performativity, I use this as a way of responding critically to ways of understanding Indianness and the fluidity and fixity present in this. For instance, Indian as a specific identity category holds specific privileges and oppressions as well as norms that if one transgresses from carries sanctions and if followed carried rewards. Given the colonial history and present day context of Trinidad, this makes us question Butler’s theorisation of fluid identifications and based on these considerations, I use dougla poetics to explore all of these connotations. While I theorise raced gender in its shifting and performative sense, I also wish to foreground the fluidity and fixity in the young women’s talk. To that end, I use dougla poetics, as a 21st century notion, to attend to this double positioning and in combination with race gender performativity and to explore how such poetics re-inserts Indianness into Trinidad and Tobago as a nation across these five areas.

Diaspora invokes a way of living. Geographic displacement, either voluntary or forced, brings about heightened processes of negotiation between the past, the present and the future. Effectively, diaspora creates a space for dialogue about notions of individual subjectivity and group representation, as well as global and local belonging. These processes contribute pivotally to the identity development of diasporic people, and this plays out continually as is evident in the choices diasporic people make about the way they live. This thesis explores one aspect of the lives of elite diasporic Indian families in Singapore - cricket. The central question is how these diasporic people become 'Indian' through their participation in the sport. There are two major components - cricket and family. Firstly, I identify cricket as a site of diasporic negotiation in the lives of these Indians. I explore their practice of this activity as a physical and ideological space in and through which they negotiate their identity. In a country where cricket is not common practice, the Indian domination of the widespread 'public culture' of their country of origin reflects their intensified investment in Indianness. This results in the creation of a minoritized and largely exclusive social space. By participating in cricket, they play out their diasporic Indian identity. This is a myriad process of social construction and transformation of Indianness at individual and collective levels. Through active and concerted social labour in the cricket arena, translation of relevant Indianness into a foreign setting effectively creates a new Indian ethnicity. It is the very negotiation and mobilization of their ethnicity that facilitates the thriving of this elite Indian diaspora. The other major component in this thesis is that of the family in diaspora. This is important because most of the elite Indians moved to Singapore as nuclear family units. Decisions made and the structures of their lives take into account the impact upon the household at individual and collective levels. I explore and highlight the importance not only of families doing diaspora together, but that of the varied individual contributions of family members to cricket and how their various parts support one another's negotiation of their Indianness. Divided broadly into three categories of fathers, mothers and children (male and female), I look at their different ideals, attitudes and involvement in the sport. From my research, I found that fathers were the ideological spearhead and instigators of interest for cricket within families; mothers played support roles; and children participated for a variety of reasons. Boys played because it was deemed the natural thing for Indian boys as it is 'in their blood'. Girls on the other hand, played for a variety of different reasons which differed from their male counterparts. Their participation was a concerted effort in an attempt to get forms of Indianness that are reflected and constructed in cricket, 'into their blood'. This thesis is framed by the concept of doing Indian diaspora in Singapore. I explore the cricket arena as a key site of identity negotiation in three realms - the individual, the family, and the wider Indian network/community. This analysis seeks to highlight the importance of each realm in reinforcing and supporting one another's projects of constant and complex formation processes of Indianness.

Cette thèse analyse la relation entre la politique de santé “différenciée”, le territoire et l’Indianité, en s’appuyant sur les références conceptuelles de la sociologie de l’action publique locale, à partir de l’étude de la Terre indigène du Haut Rio Guama (TIARG) au Nord-Est de l’Etat du Para, un territoire revendiqué par ses habitants, le peuple Tembé-Tenetehar et, en particulier, les communautés de Guama et de Gurupi. Le processus principal sur lequel s’appuie cette recherche concerne l’appropriation du discours public sur la politique de santé “différenciée” par les leaders Tembés, en particulier la manière dont ils réussissent à l’utiliser comme ressource politique dans la conduite d’actions pour la défense de leur identité associée à la défense de leur territoire. Ce territoire ”hibride” se presente comme animé et construit à partir de références symboliques, cosmologiques, propres à une culture singulière qui contribuent à la production d’une action publique locale et d’un système d’acteurs ; une action locale qui se concrétise dans un domaine de compétences qui concerne un des secteurs du servisse public, celui de la santé.Partagées entre les droits sociaux particuliers du fait de leur Indianité et les droits sociaux universels, les deux communautés s’efforcent d’amplifier leurs ressources et de développer de nouvelles stratégies de manière à intégrer dans le territoire de leurs traditions les exigences de l’Etat brésilien et celles des organismes internationaux. De telles stratégies qui ne remettent pas en cause la permanence de leurs rituels sont les moyens que se donnent les Tembés pour défendre les intérêts de leur territoire contre les exploitants de la forêt, les grands propriétaires terriens et les agriculteurs de la reforme agraire (agriculture familiale). Cela permet aux Tembés, tant de Guama que de Gurupi, de dynamiser et de réinventer une culture fortement imprégnée d’une dimension politique qui se manifeste dans des actions locales et, en même temps, de défendre leur Indianité et leur territoire.Une analyse comparative entre les deux communautés permet d’observer des différences qui se manifestent en termes d’apprentissage et de transmission des connaissances et qui montrent en particulier que les Tembés de Gurupi adoptent des stratégies et des discours de résistance et de défense plus fermés. Les Tembés de Guama, moins affectés par les iniciatives liées à l’exploitation de la forêt et par l’action des grands propriétaires de la terre, se mobilisent davantage pour défendre un “nouveau” territoire, typiquement émergent, qui conserve cependant des correspondances avec les anciennes limites de leur territoire, en s’efforçant de réactualiser leur mémoire collective qui se nourrit des références de leurs traditions, des traditions que partagent les Tembés de Gurupi
This study analyzes the relationship between « differentiated health », territory and Indianness , using conceptual frameworks from the sociology of local public action in the Indian Land High River Guama ( TIARG ) , northeastern Pará , territory claimed by its inhabitants , the people Tembe - Tenetehar Villages Guamá and Gurupi . The central process observed relates to appropriation of the discourse of differentiated health Tembé by leaders who spend using it as a political resource in the defense of an action associated with the defense of its territory identity. A hybrid territory is then constructed and experienced in specific symbolic, cosmological references a unique culture that integrates in a local public people whose action points system performance in a comprehensive spheres of competence from the perspective of public service, in this case the health. Between specific social rights and universal social rights, the two villages, seek to expand their resources and develop new strategies for integrating traditional territory requirements which achieves global levels. Such strategies, especially the reissue of traditional rituals are ways that give the Tembé to continue to address other interests in their territory - the loggers, ranchers and settlers. This has allowed Tembe, both Guamá as the Gurupi, streamline, reinvent culture printing an eminently political character of its shares at the same time defend the territory and Indianness. Comparing the two groups of villages are observed differentiations, learning and transmitting knowledge to demonstrate the Tembé Gurupi to set in motion strategies and discourses of resistance and defense of the most closed country. The group Guamá, most affected by the initiatives linked to logging and farms, advocate a new territory, typically emerging that keep in itself however, correspondence with the limits of the territory, updated in collective memory, in which the references are not exactly the same

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CAPES
As relações entre o Brasil e a Índia são conhecidas há séculos ao mencionarmos as rotas mercantis entre Europa, Américas e Ásia em tempos coloniais. Este trabalho busca analisar indianidades nos fluxos turísticos entre Brasil e Índia na contemporaneidade.Os fluxos provocam mobilidades e circulação de pessoas, artefatos, ideias e informações. Esboçamos nesta pesquisa, a noção de indianidades que pode ser compreendida como uma gama de repertórios que tenta fixar e disseminar predicativos inerentes à Índia apropriada pela indústria do turismo. Ressaltamos que indianidades também está associada a uma abordagem política de movimentos identitários dentro e fora da Índia. Este trabalho explora a pertinência temática por meio de quatro dimensões: 1) propagandas de pacotes turísticos comercializados por agências de viagens brasileiras; 2) relatos de viagens à Índia por turistas viajantes brasileiros; 3) narrativas ficcionais que abordam incidentes de viagens à Índia e aos Estados Unidos, país que acolhe uma expressiva diáspora indiana; 4) objetos de viagens trazidos como souvenirs ou mercadorias. Sinalizamos que a yoga atravessa toda a dissertação de forma fluida, tanto como um repositório de informações sobre a Índia, como uma prática que vem sendo transnacionalizada, impulsionando turistas de todo o mundo em busca do berço da yoga.
The relationship between Brazil and India is known for centuries when mentioned as mercantile rote among Europe, Americas and Asia in the colonial times.This resource seeks to analyse indianess in touristic capabilities between Brazil and India. The flow provoke motion and circulation of people, craft creation, ideas and information. We may added to this source the consistency of indianess which can be comprehended as one gram of repertoires that try to fix up as well as exterminate some values ineherent in India through the tourism industry.It’s important to say that indianness also is associated into a politic discussion related to an indentity circulation movements inside and outside of India. This resource explore the relevance thematic through four dimenssion point of view: 1) advertising of comercial turistic packages by brazilian travel agencies; 2) reports by brazilian tourists people who travel to India; 3) Fiction narrative related to incidents that happen in India and United States, which country embrace a significant Indian population; 4) Travel objects brought as souvinirs or markets. It’s blatant that yoga cross this statement in some way smoothly, as a reserve of information about India, as well as a kind of pratice that has becoming a transnationalized attracting a large number of tourists from all over the world those who are looking for the headquarters of the yoga.

La question des savoirs liés aux plantes, à l’environnement et au paysage n’est pas explorée dans les travaux sur la migration de l’engagisme indien (1834-1917) vers les îles créolophones des Antilles et des Mascareignes. De même, l’interdépendance entre le végétal, les dieux, les mythes et les cultes hindous n’est pas prise en compte dans les travaux sur l’hindouisme pratiqué aujourd’hui dans ces îles. A partir du cas de la Guadeloupe, je propose une analyse ethnobotanique des modalités de transmission des plantes et de leurs usages dans les familles d’origine indienne depuis l’époque de l’engagisme et une étude de la diffusion de ces plantes dans le paysage de l’archipel, sur un temps long. En mobilisant des sources ethnographiques, botaniques et historiques, je formule des hypothèses sur l’introduction de plantes par les engagés indiens en Guadeloupe (XIXe siècle) et par leurs descendants (XXe-XXIe siècles). Lorsque la relation au jardin et au paysage végétal, réel, mythologique et imaginaire, est insérée dans une chronologie étendue, elle permet de questionner et de contextualiser l’existence des savoirs indiens au jardin créole et celle d’une « indianité » en Guadeloupe. Les plantes structurent les rituels hindous et permettent d’interagir avec les dieux. En exil, les mythes, savoirs transmis oralement sur les dieux et le monde, deviennent des savoirs à part entière. La pratique des cultes hindous est abordée par l’angle de l’insularité et du lien entre les symboliques du végétal et la notion de sacré, à partir d’un vis-à-vis entre le cas de la Guadeloupe et ceux de La Réunion et l’île Maurice. Les échanges actuels entre les hindous de la Guadeloupe et l’Inde, les pays du Sud de la Caraïbe et les îles Mascareignes entraînent de nouvelles modalités de connaissance des plantes et de leurs usages. Ces échanges favorisent l’introduction de nombreuses espèces végétales qui se diffusent progressivement dans les jardins, dans le contexte d’une mise en contact des pratiques hindoues « créoles » avec la circulation de savoirs brahmaniques plus globalisés. La diffusion des plantes et la transmission des savoirs, à différentes époques, entre l’Inde et les îles des Antilles et des Mascareignes, façonnent une relation particulière au jardin, lieu d’intimité et de déploiement d’un être au monde singulier. La présente thèse est une tentative d’illustration du processus de créolisation, à partir de l’espace du jardin et des lieux de culte hindous, sous une variable particulière : celle de la temporalité
The question of knowledge related to plants, environment and landscape has not been explored in the works about the migration of Indian indentured laborers (1834-1917) to the Creole-speaking islands of the West Indies and the Mascarenes. Similarly, the interdependence between plants, gods, myths and Hindu cults is not considered in works on the form of Hinduism practiced today on these islands. Starting from the case of Guadeloupe, I propose an ethnobotanical analysis of the modalities of transmission of plants and their uses in families of Indian origin since the times of indenture, and a study on how these plants have spread to the landscape of the archipelago, over a long duration. Using ethnographic, botanical and historical sources, I formulate hypotheses on the introduction of plants by Indian indentured laborers in Guadeloupe (19th century) and by their descendants (20th-21st centuries). When the relationship to the garden and the plant landscape is inserted into an extended chronology, it allows us to question and contextualize the existence of Indian knowledge in the Creole garden, and an "Indianness" present in Guadeloupe. The plants structure Hindu rituals and allow interaction with the gods. In exile, myths, orally transmitted stories about the gods and the world, become knowledge. The practice of Hindu cults is approached from the angle of insularity and the link between the symbolism of plants and the notion of the sacred is based on a comparison between Guadeloupe on one hand, La Réunion and Mauritius on the other. Current exchanges between the Hindus of Guadeloupe, India, the countries of the southern Caribbean and the Mascarene Islands open new pathways of knowledge on plants and their uses. These exchanges favored the introduction of numerous plant species that gradually spread in the gardens, in the context of a contact between "creole" Hindu practices and the circulation of more globalized Brahmanical knowledge. The spread of plants and the transmission of knowledge, at different times, between India and the islands of the West Indies and the Mascarenes, shape a particular relationship to the garden, seen as a place of intimacy and deployment of a singular belonging to the world. The present thesis is an attempt to illustrate the process of creolization, starting from gardens and Hindu places of worship, under a particular variable : that of temporality

The purpose of this thesis is to destabilize notions that representations of ‘Indians’ as they appear in contemporary Switzerland, Germany, and France are benign. Rather, Europeans in this region rely on ‘playing Indian’ and consuming Indianness to understand themselves as white modern subjects. I demonstrate how this operates through two case studies and argue that colonialism persists through symbolic dialectical processes between North America and Western Europe. Colonial discourse, and regimes of representation, concerning Indianness circulate across geographical locations. I link these symbolic representations to ongoing material struggles of Indigenous peoples for self-determination and land rights. Switzerland’s foreign investments and free trade with Canada for natural resources on unceded Indigenous territories implicates them in a neoliberal colonial paradigm that continues to dispossess peoples of their land. I turn to Indigenous artists and international solidarity networking as potential strategies that address both symbolic and material processes of colonization.

This thesis surveys the role which 'Indianness' has played at rock art sites in Canada. The emphasis is on how the generally negative colonial creation of 'the Indian,' especially after Confederation, has penetrated non-Native opinion in entertainment, which helped spread 'the Indian' image through the general public, and science, which helped to 'confirm' the image. By looking particularly at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in southern Alberta, some of the issues addressed are: why 'the Indian' was required in Canada, how this image became accepted, how Writing-On-Stone deals with this image in its interpretation and what changes have evolved in rock art research in the latter part of the twentieth century.

This project examines whether recent changes to the relationships between museums and Aboriginal people are visible in the museum exhibits and narratives that shape public memory. It focuses on references to the fur trade found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s First Peoples Hall and Canada Hall and throughout the Manitoba Museum, using visitor studies, learning theory and an internal evaluation of the Canada Hall to determine how and what visitors learn in these settings. It considers whether display content and visual cues encourage visitors to understand the fur trade as an industry whose survival depended on the participation of Aboriginal people and whose impacts can be viewed from multiple perspectives.